A callous thief burgled an animal rescue charity and stole more than £1,000-worth of vital equipment.
As previously reported on ChronicleLive, volunteers at Blyth Wildlife Rescue were left "heartbroken" after cruel crooks broke into their intensive care unit, in Cramlington, and made-off with items including a safe and cash. The charity and police appealed for information at the time of the theft in May this year.
An investigation later led to the arrest of John Saint, of Tangmere Close, in Cramlington, and he was charged with burglary of a non-dwelling. The 42-year-old appeared at Newcastle Magistrates' Court earlier this year to plead not guilty to the offence and the case was listed for trial.
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Saint, who has a long criminal record, appeared back at the same court on October 6 and was found guilty. His case was listed for sentence this week but he was unable to attend. His solicitor, Michael Crowe, said: "He was found guilty of this offence earlier this month.
"Mr Saint was due for sentence today, however, on the Friday before last he was sentenced to nine months in prison for other matters at this court. We need to set-up a prison video link for this case." Saint will now appear on a video link from HMP Durham at Sunderland Magistrates' Court on November 2.
As previously reported, Saint and an accomplice broke into an office at the charity's site in Cramlington at around lunchtime on May 22 and made-off with a safe containing over £1,200 worth of vital equipment. CCTV footage showed a man sneaking into the building twice whilst a volunteer cared for animals merely feet away in the clinical area.
After leaving empty handed, he returned a short time later with another man, and together they fled the area with the safe. Saint was one of those men.
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